Gregory M. Astill is with the Markets and Trade Economics Division, Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Kansas City, MO. Fred Kuchler, Jessica E. Todd, and Elina T. Page are with the Food Economics Division, Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC.
Am J Public Health. 2020 Mar;110(3):322-328. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305476. Epub 2020 Jan 16.
From May to November most romaine lettuce shipments in the United States come from California's Central Coast region, whereas from December to April most come from the Yuma, Arizona, region. During 2017-2018, the 3 outbreaks of Shiga toxin-producing (STEC) O157:H7 in US romaine lettuce all occurred at the tail end of a region's production season. During the fall 2018 outbreak, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that suppliers begin labeling romaine packaging so that consumers can identify the product's harvest region.We used publicly available data to show that labels may not avert many illnesses in future outbreaks but may reduce suppliers' financial losses and reduce food loss.Market data available during both 2018 outbreak investigations showed that there was no romaine production from one of the 2 regions when the first illness onset occurred. That is, at the beginning of an outbreak investigation, market data may allow the FDA to quickly rule out an entire production region as a source of contamination.
从 5 月到 11 月，美国大部分罗马生菜的出货量来自加利福尼亚州中央海岸地区，而 12 月到 4 月则主要来自亚利桑那州尤马地区。在 2017-2018 年，美国三起因食源性产志贺毒素大肠杆菌 0157：H7 暴发事件均发生在该地区生产季的尾声。在 2018 年秋季暴发期间，美国食品和药物管理局（FDA）建议供应商开始对罗马生菜包装进行贴标签，以便消费者可以识别产品的收获地区。我们利用公开数据表明，标签可能无法避免未来暴发中的许多疾病，但可能会减少供应商的财务损失和食物浪费。在 2018 年两次暴发调查期间，市场数据显示，在首例疾病发病时，有两个地区之一没有罗马生菜生产。也就是说，在暴发调查开始时，市场数据可能使 FDA 能够迅速排除整个生产地区作为污染来源。
